Fluid truck snubber

ABSTRACT

A piston and cylinder motion dampening device having spiral groove metering, an orificed two-way pressure relief valve, a screw-on spring and an over-extension seal retainer.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 679,620, filed Apr. 23, 1976,now U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,412.

This invention relates to a motion dampening device of particularsuitability for reducing sway of railroad cars, and of particularsuitability as a fluid truck snubber.

The state of the fluid truck snubber art is exemplified by U.S. Pat.Nos. 3,868,912 and 3,874,307. U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,912 describes a unitwhich includes a circumferential reservoir about a high pressurechamber, an annular orificed return flow valve, a separate centralball-type pressure relief valve, an internal piston-biasing spring and adiscontinuously operable small diameter piston rod. U.S. Pat. No.3,874,307 illustrates another snubber having the circumferentialreservoir fed through the closed end of the cylinder rather than throughthe piston. An orificed pressure relief valve is used and a separatereturn valve. For background information on why fluid truck snubbers areuseful in railway cars, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,366.For background information on alternative forms of truck snubbers,reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,864 which includes a rathercomplete listing of prior art patents as well as a lengthy descriptionof several approaches to the problem of excessive railway car sway.While a few of the above devices may solve the problem of railroad carsway with varying degrees of success, they are more complex and morecostly than is desirable, both to manufacture and to maintain. The arthas long had a need for a simpler, more reliable design. The currenttrend in the art is to provide discontinuous snubbing, because loadedand unloaded cars produce vastly different forces, and snubbers designedfor heavy cars have traditionally been too stiff for unloaded cars. Inthis regard, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,529, wherein thisproblem is explained and sought to be solved by keeping the snubber outof contact with unloaded cars. The approach taken by those of evenadvanced skill in the art has been to design the snubber for loaded carconditions and maintain a clearance during unloaded conditions so thatthe snubber is made inoperative for unloaded cars. However, thisrequires an internal spring to restore the piston, which spring takes upspace which could otherwise be filled by working fluid, and this furtherreduces the amount of space which can be used for the snubber itself.Also, those of skill in the art recognize that there are forces even inunloaded and partially loaded cars which should be cushioned, especiallythose due to harmonic sway. Thus, even though the art has long felt aneed for a snubber that is capable of proper cushioning of loaded,partially loaded and unloaded cars, those of even extraordinary skill inthe art have not been able to develop a satisfactory solution.

Applicant has also realized that prior art snubbers have many internalparts, thus complicating assembly and maintenance and increasingmanufacturing costs. Therefore, the art has a need for a snubber whichreduces the number of internal parts.

Another problem of the prior art devices has been that the dustyenvironment of a railroad truck has reduced seal life due to abrasion ofthe seals, hence resulted in leaky units. The art has a need for a unitwhich minimizes the environmental damage to seals.

Most prior art devices have the high pressure chamber at the bottom endof the device in order to allow gravity to assist in keeping gases outof the high pressure chamber. Most prior art devices also have thereservoir at the bottom of the unit circumferentially surrounding thehigh pressure chamber. This causes the reservoir to move in unison withthe railroad truck sideframe, which is the uncushioned object. It wouldbe much more desirable to have a reservoir that moved in unison with thetruck bolster, which is the cushioned object, so that reservoiragitation could be reduced. This would be especially so at relativelyhigh train speeds where such agitation would be most pronounced.

Air entrainment has been an especially significant problem in many priorart devices and has traditionally been felt to require complex purgingchannels or purge valves, such as shown in U.S Pat. Nos. 3,868,912 and3,874,307. There is a need for a more simple solution to such airentrainment.

Those of advanced skill in the art realize that the internal valving isthe heart of a snubber and is the most significant cost due to tighttolerances and complexity and the often high temperatures and abrasiveaction of fluid flowing therethrough during operation. The art thereforehas a continual need for more durable, more compact and less costlyvalving.

A solution to these and other problems is provided by the method andapparatus of this invention which provides a movable piston; cylindermeans for sealingly surrounding at least a portion of said piston; andspiral groove means, disposed between said piston and said cylindermeans, for allowing regulated flow bypassing said piston within saidcylinder.

Another aspect of the invention provides cylinder means for defining ahigh pressure chamber therein; piston means, movable within saidcylinder means, for alternately contracting and expanding said highpressure chamber in response to forces applied to said piston means,reservoir means, connected to said high pressure chamber by a fluidpassageway, for receiving fluid from said high pressure duringcontraction thereof and supplying fluid to said high pressure chamberduring expansion thereof; valve means in said fluid passageway forregulating fluid flow therethrough, said valve means including: a valvemember disposed in said fluid passageway; first passageway means throughsaid valve member, for allowing flow from said high pressure chamber tosaid reservoir; second passageway means, through said valve member, forallowing flow from said reservoir to said high pressure chamber, saidsecond passageway means having much greater flow capacity than saidfirst passageway means, first closure means, within said firstpassageway means, for opening said first passageway means only inresponse to pressure in said high pressure chamber exceeding thepressure in said reservoir by a first predetermined magnitude and forclosing said first passageway means at all lower pressures; secondclosure means, within said second passageway means, for closing saidsecond passageway means in response to pressures in said reservoirexceeding the pressure in said high pressure chamber by a secondpredetermined magnitude, said first magnitude being much greater thansaid second magnitude; and third passageway means, in said valve member,for allowing restricted unvalved flow from said high pressure chamber tosaid reservoir.

A further aspect of the invention includes creating a circumferentialopening in one of two axially spaced radial abutments; inserting an endof a spring into the opening; turning the spring so as to screw thespring through said opening and an operative position at least partiallybetween the longitudinally spaced abutments; and maintaining the springin said operative position.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a shock absorber,comprising a piston; cylinder means for circumferentially surroundingsaid piston to define a working chamber between said piston and one endof said cylinder; seal means, in an operative position between saidpiston and cylinder, for isolating said working chamber; dust covermeans, connected to one of said piston and cylinder, for reducing theamount of dust contacting said seal means during operation of the shockabsorber in a dusty environment; and retainer means, attached to saidcylinder, for interlocking with said dust cover to preventover-extension of the shock absorber, and for maintaining said sealmeans in said operative position.

Another aspect of the invention provides in an apparatus for dampeningmovements of a sideframe and bolster of a railroad truck of a railroadcar relatively toward and away from one another, the improvementcomprising: piston means, having a first end and a second oppositelyfacing end, for continuously contacting said bolster with said firstend; cylinder means for continuously contacting said sideframe and forpartially surrounding said piston means and for defining a high pressurechamber between said piston and cylinder means, said cylinder meanshaving a first open end and a second end; and spiral groove means,disposed between said piston and cylinder means, for allowing meteredflow within said cylinder bypassing said piston, said spiral groovemeans extending axially from a first point on an internal surface ofsaid cylinder means adjacent said open end of said cylinder means to asecond point a predetermined distance from said second end of saidcylinder, said predetermined distance being equal to the distance ofsaid second end of said piston from said second end of said cylinderwhen said apparatus is in operative position between said sideframe andbolster of said truck and said railroad car is fully loaded andstationary.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a shock absorbercomprising: a cylinder including: a cylinder wall having inner and outerperipheral surfaces and one open end; a piston telescopically receivedwithin said cylinder, said piston having a high pressure face inengagement with a body of fluid and a low pressure face; passage means,associated with said piston, for providing fluid communication betweensaid high and low pressure faces of said piston; a reservoir in fluidcommunication with said low pressure face and intended to receive fluidwhich passes from the high pressure face of said piston through saidpassage means; return flow valve means, associated with said piston andadjacent said passage means, for increasing and decreasing flow throughat least part of said passage means during motion of said piston awayfrom and toward said body of fluid respectively; and baffle means,attached to said piston, for baffling fluid flow entering said reservoirfrom at least part of said passage means during motion of said pistontoward said body of fluid.

A further aspect of the invention provides a single-acting shockabsorber, comprising: variable volume high pressure chamber means forcontaining a fluid and for expanding and contracting responsive tomovement of two spaced objects away from and toward each otherrespectively; fixed volume baffling chamber means, in restricted fluidcommunication with said high pressure chamber means, for receiving fluidfrom said high pressure chamber means during contraction of said highpressure chamber means and for slowing down the flow velocity of saidreceived fluid following receipt thereof; fixed volume reservoir chambermeans, in limited fluid communication with said high pressure chambermeans, for receiving said slowed fluid from said baffling chamber meansduring contraction of said high pressure chamber means and for supplyingfluid to said variable volume high pressure chamber means duringexpansion of said high pressure chamber; and valve assembly means forproviding relatively more restricted fluid flow from said high pressurechamber means during contraction thereof and relatively less restrictedflow into said high pressure chamber means during expansion thereof.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method of unidirectionallydampening the motion of two spaced objects relative to one another whichcomprises the steps of: (a) providing a liquid-full chamber between thetwo objects; (b) contracting and expanding said chamber responsive tomovement of said two objects toward and away from one anotherrespectively, thereby forcing liquid out of and into said chamberrespectively; (c) directing said liquid flowing out of said chamberthrough a first fixed orifice responsive to flow rates, of said liquidout of said chamber, of less than a predetermined magnitude; (d)directing a substantial portion of said flow of said liquid through asecond fixed orifice responsive to flow rates of said liquid out of saidchamber, of at least equal to said predetermined magnitude, said secondfixed orifice having substantially greater cross-sectional area than thecross-sectional area of said first fixed orifice.

The invention, as well as objects and advantages thereof, can be morefully understood by reference to the following detailed description andattached drawings, which include:

FIG. 1, a vertical side view of a preferred fluid truck snubber;

FIG. 2, an elevational cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of thefluid truck snubber along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3, a vertical cross-sectional view of the valve cover of thesnubber of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4, a vertical inside view of one of the retainers of the snubber ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5, an inside cross-sectional vertical view of the cylinder of thesnubber of FIG. 1 showing vee notch spiral grooving;

FIG. 6, a vertical cross-sectional view of an alternate form of dustcover;

FIG. 7, a top partial sectional view of the valve body of the snubber ofFIG. 1, taken along lines 7--7 of FIG. 8;

FIG 8, an elevational partial sectional view taken along lines 8--8 ofFIG. 7, showing the valve body of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9, an elevational cross-sectional view of a second embodiment ofthe fluid truck snubber along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10, an inside vertical cross-sectional view of the cylinder of FIG.5 showing rectangular spiral grooving;

FIG. 11, a graph showing the force-velocity curve for the snubber ofFIG. 2; and

FIG. 12, a graph showing the force velocity curve for the snubber ofFIG. 9.

Referring to the drawings, which depict a preferred embodient of theinvention, there is shown in FIG. 1, a SWAY ARRESTOR® spring cushioningsystem fluid truck snubber 10, which, as seen in FIG. 2, compriescylinder 12, piston assembly 14, retainer 16, seals 18, valve assembly20 and restoring spring 21. Snubber 10 is placed in a railroad carbetween the truck sideframe and bolster. For positioning, reference ismade to U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,366, assigned to the assignee of thisapplication, and to CAR AND LOCOMOTIVE CYCLOPEDIA, Centennial Edition(1974), page S13-53 (1974), which describes the governing AAR StandardSnubbing Spring Groups.

Cylinder 12 is cup-shaped and comprises (see FIG. 5) a cylindrical outersurface 22, a cylindrical wall 23 defined by inner surface 24 of alesser diameter than surface 22, an open top end 26, an end cap 28closing the bottom of cylinder 12, wear ring 29, external flanges 30 and32 adjacent the junction of wall 23 with end cap 28, spiral groove 34,an internal seal recess 36 and an external retainer recess 38 adjacenttop end 26, and a cut-out 40. One preferred material for cylinder 30would be ferrite ductile iron, although many other materials could beused instead. Surface 22 is of a diamter less than the internal diameterof restoring spring 21 while the outer diameter of flange 32 issufficiently greater than the inner diameter of spring 21 to allowspring 21 to be axially restrained by flange 32. Flange 30 can be ofidentical outside diameter to flange 32 and is separated therefrom by aheat transfer recess 42. End cap 28 has a flattened convex bottomsurface 44 and spherical edges 46 connecting bottom surface 44 withflange 30. This shape is used because it is the shape a completelyspherical end cap would assume under operating conditions. End cap 28also has a concave upper surface 48, to save metal, which is connectedto cut-out 40 of wall 28. Spiral groove 34 axially spirals along surface24 from seal recess 36 part of way axially down surface 24 to a point 49above cut-out 40. A suitable axial distance has been found to be3.25-3.75", although this distance could be varied as necessary toprovide variable stiffness for variable loading of railway cars. Thelength, depth, width and cross-secion shape of the spiral groove couldbe varied, as could its cross-sectional configuration. The spiral grooveis designed to provide the desired increases in stiffness (resistance tofluid flow during compression) as the snubber is compressed in responseto increases in static loading of the railroad car, and thus point 49would be located at the level on surface 24 where piston ring 58 wouldlie when the railroad car for which snubber 10 is designed was carryingmaximum load. This would result in spiral groove 34 being operable toincrease stiffness of the unit in response to increases in loading ofthe railroad car up until the railroad car was fully loaded at whichtime the spiral grooving would normally be closed.

Piston assembly 14 comprises dust cover 50, piston cover 52, piston wall54, piston head 56 and piston ring 58. Dust cover 50 can be a thintubular piece of stiff bendable material having an internal diametergreater than the outer diameter of retainer 16 and having a curvedflange 60 at one end and firmly attached to piston cover 52 at its otherend by welding, threads or other suitable attachment means. Alternately,to facilitate assembly of snubber 10 (see FIG. 6), dust cover 50 couldbe replaced by a modified dust cover 50a, comprising a metallic tube 61and an abutment ring 64 threadedly connected or welded or brazed to tube61, as shown at 62. Alternately, metallic tube 61 could be split, as at66, to facilitate assembly of snubber 10, or some other suitable breakin dust cover 50a could be made. Piston wall 54 is preferably of thesame external diameter as piston head 56 and formed integral therewithas in FIG. 2. The upper end of piston wall 54 is affixed, such as bywelding or threads, to piston cover 52. Piston cover 52 has a centralflattened upper surface 68 with spherical edges 70. The lower surface ofpiston cover 52 includes a recess 72 for receiving the upper end of bothdust cover 50 and piston wall 54, although separate recess could be usedfor each. Also, piston cover 52 can include ribs 74 for structuralsupport. Outer surfaces 69 of piston cover 52 is provided with a lead-inrecess 67 having circumferential lead-in surfaces 71 and 73 inclinedrelative to the axis of snubber 10 in the same direction as theinclination of spring 21 relative to snubber 10, so as to allow spring21 to be screwed into position by insertion of lead end 75 of spring 21into recess 67 and turning of spring 21. Surface 73 may be V-shaped toprovide a rentention surface 77 to prevent unscrewing of spring 21.Piston head 56 includes a lower face 76 and upper face 78 and an axialpassageway 80 connecting upper and lower faces 78 and 76. Passageway 80is a circular axial passageway having an upper portion 81, taperedrecess 82 at its lower end communicating with face 76, and a downwardlyfacing transverse seating shoulder 84. The outer surface 86 of pistonhead 56 include a radial recess 88 adapted to receive piston ring 58.Piston wall 54 also includes an external annular recess 90 above recess88 of piston head 56, and one or more radial ports 92 communicatingrecess 90 with the internal surface 94 of wall 54.

Valve assembly 20 is axially located partly within passageway 80 andcontrols fluid flow therethrough. Valve assembly 20 includes returnvalve body 96, ball 98, a first spring 100, valve cover 102 and a secondspring 104. Return valve body 96 (see FIGS. 2, 7 and 8) includes a valvetube 106, a valve disc 110, and an upper flange portion 112. Valve tube106 has an external surface 109 of diameter less than the diameter ofpassageway 80. Valve tube 106 also has a cylindrical internal surface114 defining in part an axial passageway 115 through return valve body96. Passageway 115 can be provided with ball guides 116 which projectinward radially from surface 114 to guide movement of ball 98 withinpassageway 115. Valve tube 106 also includes relief flutes 108 in theexterior surface 109 thereof. Disc 110 is attached to the bottom ofvalve tube 106 as by being cast integral therewith. Disc 110 has anexternal diameter greater than the diameter of passageway 80 of pistonhead 56 but less than the outer diameter of tapered recess 82. Disc 110has an upper seating surface 118 adapted to sealingly engage seatingshoulder 84 of piston head 56. Disc 110 is also provided with orifice120 communicating one of relief flutes 108 with the bottom face 119 ofdisc 110. Alternatively, disc 110 could be provided with orifice 121which communicates face 119 with passageway 115 in such a manner as tobypass fall 98 when ball 98 is in the closed position shown in FIG. 2.Disc 110 further includes axial relief opening 122 which communicatesface 119 with passageway 115. Opening 122 is of a diameter less thanpassageway 115 but greater than orifice 120 (or 121). Opening 122 iscoaxial with passageway 115 and is connected thereto by a relief valveseat 124, which is adapted to sealingly receive ball 98. Upper flangeportion 112 includes an outwardly flared internal relief outlet surface126 communicating the top surface 129 of flange 112 with passageway 115.Upper flange portion 112 also includes an external recess 128. The topsurface 129 of flange 112 is provided with radial notches 130 whichprovide additional fluid flow area between the valve cover 102 and thetop surface 129 of the valve body 96. Ball 98 is of diameter slightlyless than the diametrical distance between ball guides 116 so as toslide therewithin. A ball pad 132 can be interposed between spring 100and ball 98, if desired. Spring 100 is a coil spring of suitable designto achieve the desired opening ("cracking") pressure for flow throughpassageway 115 from relief opening 122. Spring 100 is held withinpassageway 115 by a valve cover 102 such as that shown in FIG. 3, orother suitable design providing a suitable flow opening 134 for exit offluid from passageway 115. Valve cover 102 has a plurality of legs 103sufficiently spaced to allow return flow through valve cover 102 intorelief flutes 108 as described below. Valve cover 102 also has a radialopening 105 to provide an outlet for flow from passageway 115 asdescribed below. Valve cover 102 further has a downwardly projectingboss 91 to position spring 100 and to limit travel of a rod 101described below. Piston ring 58 preferably has a split therein tofacilitate assembly and disassembly.

Seal 18 can be one of a number of conventional seals having an internaland external diameter to fit within recess 36 and sealingly abut wall54.

Retainer 16 includes lower flange 140, upper flange 141 and body portion142 therebetween and is semicircular in shape to facilitate assembly.Lower flange 140 has an internal diameter slightly greater than theinner diameter of recess 38 but less than the outside diameter of thetop end 26 of cylinder 12, so as to be axially retained with saidrecess. Body portion 142 has an outside diameter slightly less than theinside diameter of cylinder portion 61 of dust cover 50 or 50a, so as tobe radially restrained thereby. Upper flange 141 has an inside diameterless than the outer diameter of recess 36 and less than the outerdiameter of seal 18 but greater than the outside diameter of wall 54 soas to retain seals 18 within recess 36. The upper surface may be taperedas at 143, if desired, to facilitate assembly and give slightly greaterpiston travel.

Looking to FIGS. 9 and 10 is seen an alternate snubber 11. Only thelower piston portion and cylinder 13 are shown since the remainder canbe as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Modified piston assembly 15 head 57 is provided with an axial unvalvedorifice 125 communicating with high pressure chamber 150 and optionalcounterbore 127 preferably in coaxial alignment with and communicatingsaid orifice 125 with a baffle chamber 151 described below. Pistonassembly 15 is also provided with a baffle member 153 which comprises anannular baffle ledge 155 and a ring shaped guide flange 154. Baffleledge 155 is preferably inclined obliquely to guide flange 154 withguide flange 154 being formed integral with and extending upwardly frombaffle ledge 155. Baffle member 153 is fixedly attached to internalsurface 95 of piston wall 55 of piston assembly 15, as by welding 156 orbrazing. Baffle ledge 155 is provicded with a central opening 157 ofdiameter greater than the external diameter of valve assembly 19. Thisconstruction of modified piston assembly 15 creates a baffle chamberdefined by the upper surface 79 of piston head 57, lower portion 158 ofsurface 95, baffle ledge 155 and valve assembly 19.

Cylinder 13 is the same as cylinder 12 except that rectangularlycross-sectioned spiral groove 35 is substituted for vee-notch spiralgroove 34.

Valve assembly 19 is similar to valve assembly 20 except that the returnvalve body 97 has radial relief ports 107 and a travel limiter rod 101to provide a fixed orifice when ball 99 unseats and to direct reliefflow into baffle chamber 151. Rod 101 is of a length designed to allowmovement of ball 99 upward a predetermined distance so as to define afixed orifice between ball 99 and a seat 93 which can be identical toseat 124 previously described.

The assembly of snubber 10 will now be described. The individual partsare made as hereinabove described. Valve body 96 is then inserted intopassageway 80 of piston head 56. Ball 98, ball pad 132 (or limite rod101) and spring 100 are inserted into passageway 115, and second spring104 is placed around surface 109 and flange 112. Then valve cover 102 ispressed into position and attached to flange 112 to compress spring 100a predetermined amount and seat ball 98 on relief valve seat 124 and tocompress second spring 104 a predetermined amount sufficient to hold theweight of valve assembly 20 so as to keep seating surface 118 andseating shoulder 84 engaged should the pressure on face 76 equal orexceed the pressure on surface 78. Wall 54 is then welded to the innerwall of recess 72, piston cover 52 and dust cover 50 are placedconcentrically around wall 54 and welded to the outer wall of recess 72.Ring 58 is then placed into recess 98 to complete piston assembly 14.Seals 18 are placed within recess 36, along with a spacer 19. If anabutment ring 64 is used, it is slid over top end 26 of cylinder 12. Thetwo semi-circular halves of retainer 16 are then inserted into recess 38so as to hold seals 18 and spacer 19 within recess 36. Cylinder 12 isnow filled with a predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid and pistonassembly 14 is inserted into cylinder 12 and this partial snubber iscompressed. Dust cover 50 snaps over retainer 16 to thereafter preventaccidental separation of piston assembly 14 from cylinder 12. Spring 21is now screwed through lead-in recess 67 to a position between end cap68 and flange 32. The assembly of snubber 11 can be identical exceptbaffle member 153 is affixed to surface 95 before the piston cap iswelded on.

The operation of snubber 10 will now be described. Snubber 10 ispositioned within the spring basket of a railway car truck either inplace of or in addition to an existing spring, as desired. Reference ismade to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,366 which show one suchplacement. Thereafter, snubber 10 will receive compressive forces inresponse to movements of a bolster toward the truck. Compression ofsnubber 10 forces the hydraulic fluid from a high pressure chamber 150defined by surfaces 24, 48, 76, cut-out 40 and the bottom of valve body96 through valve assembly 20 and spiral groove 34 into a reservoir 152defined by surfaces 78 and 94, the bottom surface of piston cover 52 andthe upper surface of valve assembly 20. If the compression is of lowspeed and the car is less than fully loaded, orifice 120 or 125 andspiral groove 34 or 35 control the flow from chamber 150 into reservoir152 or baffle chamber 151. If the car is fully loaded, spiral groove 34or 35 is closed. If the compression is of faster speed, orifice 120 or125 and spiral groove 34 or 35 provide insufficient flow capacity toprevent a pressure buildup within high pressure chamber 150 ofsufficient magnitude to cause ball 98 or 99 to lift off seat 124 or 93and allow fluid to flow into reservoir 152 or baffle chamber 151 viapassageway 115 or relief ports 107. When the truck and bolster move awayfrom each other, restoring spring 21 causes an expansion of snubber 10.During an expansion, spring 21 pushes piston face 76 upward relative tohigh pressure chamber 150, thus creating a sufficient vacuum in chamber150 to cause valve body 96 to be pulled downwardly against the bias ofspring 104 to allow fluid to return from reservoir 152 or baffle chamber151 to chamber 150. When this occurs, legs 103 on the valve cover 102limit the downward movement of the valve body 96 during the return offluid to the chamber 150 by abutting upper face 78 of the piston head 56thereby allowing the fluid flowing from reservoir 152 or baffle chamber151 to flow through the openings between the legs 103 of the valve cover102, through relief flutes 108 of the valve body 96, and into chamber150.

Spiral groove 34 or 35 preferably extends only part way down surface 24in order that an unloaded car can also be cushioned, thus overcoming theinability of the heretofore designed snubbers to adequately cushion bothloaded and unloaded cars. The spiral groove is tapered so as to give anincrease in resistance as the snubber is compressed at a rate below thatwhich would cause ball 98 or 99 to unseat. The spiral grooves alsoserves to increase fluid shear forces by lengthening the flow path bymaking the flow path move circumferentially as well as axially aboutring 58 as ring 58 is moved through the part of surface 24 containingspiral groove 34 or 35. Recess 90 receives the flow from spiral groove34 or 35 and ports 92 allow this received flow to pass into bafflechamber 151 or reservoir 152. Recess 90 and ports 92 also serve toprevent any pressure buildup between ring 58 and seals 18, since suchbuildup could cause leaks past seals 18 and thus necessitate some sortof fluid level check such as sight glasses. Thus the space locatedaxially between seals 18 and ring 58 and radially between wall 54 andsurface 24 is effectively made a part of reservoir 152, so that seals 18only need resist low pressures, which helps avoid a leaky snubber inthat seals 18 are dynamic seals.

With a loaded car, higher forces are to be expected and hence a stiffersnubber is needed, as the length of travel is more limited since thesprings of the spring group will be compressed by the weight of the loadand hence the bolster will be closer to the truck. Also, when swayingaction occurs there are much greater forces involved as the center ofgravity of the car is raised and the fulcrum effect therefore increasedand the mass which is swaying is much greater. The taper of spiralgroove 34 or 35 serves this purpose since as the car is loaded thesnubber is also loaded and the cross-sectional area of the portion ofspiral groove 34 or 35 adjacent to ring 58 is therefore reduced due tomovement of ring 58 downward in cylinder 12 in response to the addedweight of the load, which causes compression of the springs within thespring group of the truck. By appropriate positioning of point 49 andproper design of spiral groove 34 or 35, snubber 10 can thus be adaptedto the loading of the railway car.

A further criteria is that snubber 10 have the proper speed responsesince there are two types of vertical forces put on the snubber. One isthought to be due to the harmonic motion which is induced when thenatural rise and fall of the truck over the individual lengths of railis in resonance with the natural frequency of the truck springs suchthat the track is rising while the springs are expanding, therebyproducing an amplified upward movement. It will be appreciated that bothloaded and unloaded cars have natural frequencies. Reference is made toFIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,366 in which a maximum force wasfound to be at 16-18 miles per hour, which is about the speed used innormal switchyard operations. A second type of force has been noted atspeeds of over fifty miles per hour and is due to high speed passageover rail defects such as misaligned or irregular rails. While there maywell be other critical speeds, these two are most critical in that thespeeds are in a range likely to be constant for some time, whereas otherspeeds are normally only briefly passed through on accelerations anddecelerations. To handle this problem, snubber 10 includes reliefpassageway 115 closed by ball 98 until a high rate of flow is required.By proper tapering of passageway 115 and proper design of seat 124 andspring 100, or alternatively by addition of relief ports 107 and properlimitation of the travel of spring 100, the proper pressure response canbe created to cushion the high speed forces.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show the response of snubbers 12 and 13, respectively.Snubber 12 produces a continuous force-velocity curve 160 as seen inFIG. 11. The curve initially follows response line 161, which is atheoretically desired response to produce the optimum cushioning ofharmonic motion which, as noted before, is most pronounced at relativelylow train speeds and hence at low velocity of snubber movement. Thisfirst portion 162 of curve 160 is the response of orifice 120 and spiralgroove 34. At somewhere in the vicinity of point 163, ball 98 begins tounseat and the response curve therefore flattenes as the snubber flowsmore freely due to the variable orifice produced by the unseating ofball 98. Thus the final portion 164 response curve gradually approachesa second theoretical response line 165 which is the optimum cushioningresponse for the high speed bounce due to rail defects as noted before.Some prior art devices also have a curve somewhat like FIG. 11, if theyhave a variable orifice pressure relief valve.

FIG. 12, however, is a radical improvement. As snubber 13 is exposed tolow velocity movement, it produces a steep initial portion 171 of theforce-velocity response curve 170, much as with the initial curve 162 ofFIG. 11. When a certain force is reached, as at point 172, ball 99begins to unseat and as ball 99 unseats more area of ball 99 is exposedto differential pressure and ball 99 thus instantaneously fully opens toallow freer flow and the force-velocity curve 170 hence is discontinuousand drops to point 173 and assumes a new curve 174 governed by orifice125 and the fully open orifice between ball 99 and seat 93. Sinceharmonic forces are the dominant consideration at low speeds and"bounce" forces due to rail defects are the dominant consideration athigh speeds, a discontinuous curve such as 170 produces a much closer toideal response than hitherto obtainable.

A further criteria is that the fluid snubber have a minimized airentrainment. It takes much less force to compress air bubbles in chamber150 than it takes to force fluid through the orifices, hence suchbubbles would harm the force-velocity relationships described above. Thefluid discharging from orifices 120, 121 and 125 and openings 107 and122 could do so at a relatively high velocity and disturb the air to oilinterface within reservoir 152 and entrain air within the hydraulicfluid and has done so in some prior art devices. After a period of timean accumulated air entrainment in the system of snubber 10 would, asnoted, decrease the snubber's cushioning ability. Therefore, it isdesirable to include some means for preventing such air entrainment.

As one approach to air entrainment prevention, the hydralic fluid usedto fill cylinder 12 could be chosen so as to provide the most rapidrelease of air bubbles therein. Alternately, the flow from high pressurechamber 150 into reservoir 152 via orifices 120, 121 and 125 andopenings 107 and 122 could be baffled by suitable baffling means such asspring 100 and valve cover 102 or a baffle chamber 151 designed toreduce the velocity of the fluid exiting the orifices whilesimultaneously preventing said fluid from contacting the air-oilinterface until the velocity thereof has been substantially reduced. Ifbaffle member 153 is used, it would preferably be sloped so that theoutflow 175 would be at a point away from and below the impinging flow176 to reduce the agitation of the reservoir 152. The downward slopewould preferably be from about 5 to 30 degrees from horizontal.

Yet another approach would be to insert a floating piston at the air-oilinterface, which could be loose fitting to prevent oil from beingtrapped thereabove. Yet another alternative would be to use orifice 121and eliminate orifice 120, thereby forcing all orificed flow throughpassageway 115 and suitably baffling passageway 115 to substantiallyreduce fluid velocity during passage therethrough, as with a fine meshscreen or other baffle member.

With all of the above in mind, it will be understood that minorvaritions may be made without departing from the scope of the invention,and that the drawings merely describe preferred embodiments, not allpossible embodiments, and therefore Applicant intends that allembodiments not departing from the scope of the invention be covered.

What is claimed is:
 1. A valve assembly for use in a shock absorberhaving a high pressure chamber and a reservoir chamber and a firstpassageway fluidly communicating the chamber and reservoir to controlfluid flow through the first passageway, comprising:first valve membermeans for opening and closing said first passageway, said valve membermeans having first end communicating with said high pressure chamber, asecond end communicating with said reservoir chamber, an outwardlyprojecting seating shoulder adjacent said first end and facing saidsecond end, a flange portion adjacent said second end, a plurality ofexternal recesses extending between said flange portion and said seatingshoulder, an inlet opening in continuous fluid communication with saidhigh pressure chamber, an outlet opening in continuous fluidcommunication with said reservoir chamber, a second passageway fluidlycommunicating said inlet opening with said outlet opening and a valveseat within said passageway; first biasing means for maintaining saidseating shoulder in positions opening and closing said first passagewayresponsive to pressures in said high pressure chamber respectively notexceeding and exceeding the pressure in said reservoir chamber; secondvalve member means, within said second passageway, for cooperating withsaid valve seat to open and close said second passageway; second biasingmeans for maintaining said second valve member in positions opening andclosing said second passageway in responsive to pressures in said highpressure chamber respectively exceeding and not exceeding the pressurein said reservoir by a predetermined amount.
 2. The valve assembly ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of said external recesses is a flute orrounded groove extending axially along the exterior surface of saidvalve member.
 3. The valve assembly of claim 2, wherein said outletopening is at least one radial port fluidly communicating saidpassageway with said flute.
 4. The valve assembly of claim 1, whereinsaid second biasing means includes a valve cover attached to said flangeportion of said first valve member and a spring within said secondpassageway and between said valve cover and said second valve member.